seems alot of us on here have the same feed back but one more word of advise. Hire your own person to do the pre buy and look through the paperwork. Dont trust the guy who is selling it or the person working on it. There are some good people out there who are selling helicopters and they wont mind if you bring your own AI. There are also people out there selling BELL helicopters who wont allow you to have your own guy do a pre buy and look the machine over, like a compression check......run as fast as you can in the other direction with your money in your pocket.

"I had no previous Hiller time and had not flown for 25 years. I flew this without a problem the the first flight"

That is an untruth. A Hiller is unlike anything you'll ever fly for the 1st little while, it takes massive control movements when compared to most other helicopters. After a few flights you won't notice the difference but to say you can just climb in and be right at home is simply not true. I'd wonder what else he's being untruthful about.

After reading what I've written in this thread, I feel I should say that I hate to be so negative and I wish you the very best in your search for a helicopter. I'm just trying to relate some of what I've learned along the way. There's lots of good reasons to own a helicopter, not the least of which is because you want one.

There is already a SB to move the generator up to keep it out of the oil.
I would think with a bit of engineering, 337, and an IA and A&P one could get a field approval assuming the local FSDO would comply.
It does not make sense to keep an old heavy generator and regulator (and not as reliable) in place when a one wire TSO'ed alternator would suffice.

Correctly stated, the Hiller is getting old, and most parts have been overhauled many times, and that in it's self is a problem.
The Hiller is not the only "old" aircraft out there that is suffering this problem.

Regardless of whom you choose to turn wrenches on your baby or who you buy it from, you will still run into questionable replacement parts. Somewhere in the mix you have to realize it is not a new aircraft and therefore can not be treated as such.

Myself also being an A&P realize that new/slightly used parts are hard to find but well worth the money in the long run. Sometimes you have to know when to toss what appears to be a good part but is out of limits just to keep it out of the system.

I am very careful about "bad mouthing" buisnesses or other A&P's when it comes to rebuilding older aircraft. Sometimes even new replacement parts aren't quite up to standards as well and I would look bad when it did not fix the problem and I had to locate another exact part to finally get the problem solved. (that statement had nothing to do with Hillers but rather older fixed wing aircraft). Yes, even in the world of commerical aviation, there are overhaul shops that are quite good at "Krylon overhauls" esp out of the Miami area. I say the Miami area as it is probably the only place that still overhauls older aircraft parts.

No matter where you locate your Hiller, its buyer beware. I think you will find pro's and con's from anyone that overhauls/rebuilds these 50's era helicopters. You do after all, get what you pay for. If you want to dump 300 grand into a "hobby" I am happy for you. Get something new or at least close to new if you can afford it. For the rest of us, its not as easy to throw that ammount of cash into the hobby and we have to keep an eye out to insure we are getting as quality machine as the money allows.

Well, it is with sadness that I must sell my Hiller. Just don't have the time or $$ to keep the dream alive anymore. It is a 1953 OH-23B/C (UH-12B/C) TT about 4400, good times blades etc. Very recent top on the Franklin. It is not in annual and does need some more work, but really don't think it would take much to get her in the air. I have run it many times and had it in a hover many times, so its close. I really wouldn't sell it, but financial reasons require it. It also comes with a complete set of Hiller manuals and Franklin overhaul manuals and a trailer. Asking $45000 for it all. If you are interested drop me a line, I am in the process of getting all the numbers together and will post later with some more pics. (have more pics around, but gotta find them).